Keepsakes on the Left and Right
Medina boxes by Tozai Home, small, $82, and large, $98: jaysonhomeandgarden.com. Birch boxes, $30 for four (available late May), cb2.com. Unfinished-wood divided boxes, $16 each, Kate’s Paperie, 800-809-9880.Once again, the Real Simple right/left brain personality type advice is awesome but only works for half the types. Keepsakes are a visual problem. Left brained people (Classics & Funs) don’t want to SEE all those little ticket stubs, matchboxes, etc. taking up space. Whereas Right brained people (Organics and Smarts) want to see them. Some of them lack the follow-through to do anything with them.
While they might not want to see them, we’ve found that Classics are the ones who tend to squirrel away ticket stubs, matchboxes, hotel key cards, etc. By and large, Funs tend to attain practical evidence of their travels, i.e., artwork, rugs, local pottery etc. So that they actually already have a built-in home. Organics and Smarts aren’t as good at being practical about their souvenirs, but they do like to SEE them. So these solutions from Real Simple do work for all. But once again, it doesn’t go far enough. (That’s why there’s PixiesDidIt!)
Real Simple advocates this for the left-brainer “Varied in shape, keepsakes can be a headache for the neatnik. Think in terms of matched containers (your usual preference) in different sizes for the just-right fit you crave—one for letters, one for theater programs, for example. Inexpensive divided boxes with depth let you sort ephemera (matchbooks, seashells) and stack it all nicely in a drawer.”
This advice rings true for all Classics. But not so much for the left-brained Funs. You guys tend to like more color in your world, and aren’t sooo matchy matchy. As long as the stuff is put away, I can see an assortment of different colored boxes that you picked up on your travels, or in a cool weekend bazaar. And yes, you got them for a steal.
Where to buy: Apothecary bottle and cork, $2.25 (sold separately; similar to set shown), thesage.com. Antiqued Secret Hideaway books, $32 each, threepotatofourshop.com.Now the right brainers need to SEE stuff to know its there, so the Real Simple solutions seems right on: “A memento collage above a desk lets you bask in memories. Start in the center of a bulletin board with a bright piece and build out, creating a dense but relaxed grid. Funky boxes, like those here masquerading as vintage books, hold 3-D items. Found containers (chocolate tins, gift boxes) catch random objects, like ticket stubs, and glass shows off shells.”
We think this solution would work really well for Organics who have intense personal connections to all their keepsakes and like to be surrounded by them. Also it would give a better purpose for the messy bulletin board you have right now that in theory makes sense, but only tends to attract stuff you don’t know what to do with. This might be a bit too makeshift for Smarts who tend to go for a framed and more finished look. Something they’ve paid someone else to put together for them. But frankly, because Classics tend to hold onto this stuff obsessively, if they can find a place to tuck this collage away, like on the inside of a closet, or in a craft room, on the inside of storage type desk, they might actually do this idea!
